


what do you call a rose

by the_problem_with_stardust



Series: Sterek Week 2017 [3]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Laura Hale, Alpha Laura Hale, Alpha Scott McCall, Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, Arranged Marriage, Emissary Stiles Stilinski, M/M, Mates, Mates Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Pack Dynamics, Pack Politics, Sterek Week, Sterek Week 2017, True Alpha Scott McCall, sterekmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-28
Updated: 2017-10-28
Packaged: 2019-01-25 15:05:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12534504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_problem_with_stardust/pseuds/the_problem_with_stardust
Summary: He sinks down on a rock near a massive tree and rests his head in his hands. Someone nearby huffs. “Looks like my secret spot isn’t so secret anymore.”Derek looks up. There is a guy seated among the twisted roots of the tree. He’s about to get up and leave when the man’s scent hits him. Mate. No wonder his instincts are going insane.Written for Sterek Week Day 4: Mates





	what do you call a rose

The McCall Pack is legendary. It’s made up entirely of bitten wolves and other creatures led by a True Alpha with a deadly second and an even more deadly Emissary. Rumors say they’ve tamed a kanima and somehow snared a banshee.

Unfortunately, the pack is living on Hale land and it doesn’t sit well with Laura. So she contacts the Alpha, informing him of her decision to move her pack of five back to California. It takes less than a week to come up with a compromise.

The agreement is simple, worked out mainly over email with a few phone calls between Laura and the True Alpha. Derek will marry into the pack and in exchange, the remaining members of the Hale pack will have protection and the right to their family lands. It is a fair trade and a sacrifice Derek is more than willing to make to keep his little family safe.

When they arrive at the grove where the negotiations will take place, Derek is shocked by how young everyone is. The True Alpha is probably the same age as his younger sister. They get their half of the camp set up before he and Laura meet with the Alpha and his second.

“Hello. I’m Scott MaCall and this is my second, Isaac Lahey.” The Alpha gestures between himself and the other young man standing beside him. “My Emissary is otherwise occupied. We’ve been having a bit of a harpy problem.”

Laura tenses, ready to spring into action. “Harpies? Do we need to postpone?” Because harpies are a supernatural plague upon the earth and notoriously hard to banish. Two packs should be able to deal with a flock though.

The second barks out a short laugh. “Stilinski can handle it, don’t worry. We’d just be getting in the way.”

So Laura and Scott sit on a picnic blanket and talk. Derek stays close, trying to follow what they’re saying. It’s his life they are discussing after all. But for some reason his instincts are going haywire. When they finally agree upon him marrying the Emissary, it’s like hearing from underwater.

Derek wonders if Mieczysław Stilinski will be as cruel and unyielding as the stories he’s heard. Even now, the fact that he is taking down a flock of harpies without aid is terrifying. After Kate, Derek had hoped for someone gentle. He isn’t sure if he’s going to be that lucky.

Laura and Scott reach an agreement that will allow them to rebuild on Hale land. Before they sign the contract, Laura hesitates. “Will my brother be allowed to visit us?”

Scott looks shocked. “Of course he can, he’s not our prisoner.” Which is reassuring to hear.

They sign the paper and Derek wanders into the woods, away from camp. He has no idea why he feels like he’s a kid again, struggling to keep the wolf under his skin. Maybe because there are so many unfamiliar wolves near his family’s land. But Laura and Cora seem fine.

He sinks down on a rock near a massive tree and rests his head in his hands. Someone nearby huffs. “Looks like my secret spot isn’t so secret anymore.”

Derek looks up. There is a guy seated among the twisted roots of the tree. He’s about to get up and leave when the man’s scent hits him. Mate. No wonder his instincts are going insane.

He must stare for too long, because the guy tilts his head. “Hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. You’re Derek Hale, right?”

Derek nods, still trying to wrap his head around the fact that he found his mate. He’s getting married to someone else and he found his mate. Is life ever going to give him a break? He wants his mom.

But his mate is talking again. “I’m Stiles. One of the token humans in the McCall pack.”

The McCalls do seem to have a large number of humans. There was the hunter that had stayed close to the group the entire time they talked, her eyes trained on the Alpha and his second. There was also the Alpha’s mother and step-dad and another named Danny that had to work.

But no one had mentioned a Stiles. Which was probably for the best. Derek could have gone his whole life without knowing he had a mate and he probably would have been happy. But now, how was he supposed to be satisfied with anyone else?

Stiles drops down onto the rock next to him. “Are you okay?”

Derek could laugh because right now he is the opposite of being okay. And Stiles seems to realize that because all of a sudden, he’s telling Derek the story of how Scott was bitten. Derek simultaneously wants to smile and growl, because Scott and Stiles were so clueless, yet his mate was in so much danger, being human around a newly turned wolf.

They are interrupted by the gong ringing for dinner. Stiles makes a face. “I gotta go take some food to my dad.” He gets up to leave, pausing to give Derek a long, searching look. “It’s all going to work out. I promise.”

Derek stays sitting on the rock, feeling like the world’s been ripped out from under him. At least until his Alpha calls, stirring him into action.

He finds Laura and manages to tell her that he’s fine, just going to bed. She might say something in reply, but he doesn’t hear. All he wants is to curl up in his tent and stop existing for a while. A few minutes after he’s crawled into his sleeping bag, Laura pushes the flap open. She sits down next to where he’s hiding his face in his pillow and says, “If there were some way I could take your place, I would in a heartbeat.”

Derek curls in tighter on himself. She sighs. “I can call this off. McCall seems reasonable. He’d probably let us stay.”

“I found my mate.” He doesn’t mean to say it, but the words slip out anyway.

Laura gasps. “Der…”

It’s rare. So rare it’s basically a fairytale. Next thing he knows, Laura is unzipping the sleeping bag and sliding in behind him, wrapping tight around him. She strokes a hand through his hair and says, “Don’t worry, I’m going to make it better.”

\---

Derek wakes up the next morning to the entire pack piled in his tent. It’s soothing and makes him miss their apartment in New York. He takes a moment to bask in the feeling of contentedness before Laura stirs.

“How’re you feeling?”

Derek starts to extricate himself from the tangle of limbs. “Better,” he says. Having the pack nearby helped.

“I have a plan, okay?” Laura murmurs, leading him out of the tent.

They’re almost to the food tent when the gong rings. This time, it’s Stiles who is there, slamming the stick into the burnished plate of metal with an evil grin on his face. He catches them all staring at him and looks contrite. “Jackson hates waking up in the morning.”

Laura laughs and shakes her head. “I like you.”

Stiles grins brightly. “Well, breakfast is served. My dad and I have been up since the ass-crack of dawn getting it ready.”

Behind them, a man dressed in a sheriff’s uniform snorts. “You mean I’ve been cooking and you’ve been stealing the bacon.”

 “Hey.” Stiles huffs. “I resent that.”

The sheriff rolls his eyes. “Get in there before he eats everything.”

Derek picks at the eggs on his plate. They taste like ashes in his mouth. Stiles plops down across from him, plate piled high with everything.

His mate looks like he wants to say something, but is cut off by Erica.

“Oh, fresh meat.” She sits down in the seat beside him, her expression predatory. “I don’t think we’ve been introduced.”

Stiles smirks. “Good morning to you, too. I’m Stiles and you are already taken.”

Sure enough, Boyd sets his food down next to Derek. “It’s best if you just let her intimidate you,” he says and Erica snickers. Boyd rolls his eyes fondly, reaching across the table to take Erica’s hand.

His mate blinks a couple of times. “Wow, you guys are adorable.”

Erica pouts. “We’re not adorable. We’re badasses.” She tugs on Boyd’s hand. “Tell him, babe.”

They’re interrupted by the arrival of Scott, who has a sunny smile on his face as he ambles into the food tent. He and Laura exchange a few words. Derek tries to ignore them, but still catches his sister saying, “we need to talk.” Dread clenches down on his stomach like a vice.

Stiles looks up from his plate and yells, “Scotty!”

And Scott, the fearsome True Alpha, turns from Laura with a goofy grin on his face. “Hey, man. I didn’t see you last night.”

His mate immediately turns evasive, eyes flicking over to Derek. “I had some stuff to do.”

Scott drops down in the seat next to Stiles, Isaac sitting on his other side. Laura sits next to Derek and Cora takes the final seat at the table.

Scott starts cutting up his pancakes. “You had something you wanted to discuss?”

Laura presses her leg against Derek’s, grounding him. “It can wait until after we’re finished.”

Scott takes a sip of orange juice and looks at Laura with an earnest expression. “We don’t really stand on ceremony here. I’m happy to talk politics while we eat.”

Derek tenses. Stiles is watching him with those golden eyes and he feels like a specimen under a microscope.

Laura, always hot headed, leaps straight to the problem. “We’re going to have to dissolve the agreement.”

Stiles and Isaac drop their silverware, but Scott keeps chewing his pancake. “Is there a reason? Because I’m sure we can find a way to fix it.”

Derek doesn’t know what to think of this kid. He doesn’t act like any alpha he’s ever encountered. But his mate has gone stiff, his scent turning sharp.

Laura moves subtly, putting her back to Derek so she’s between him and the other Alpha. “The contract states that the wolf is to be free of a mate. Derek no longer fits the criteria.”

Scott looks surprised. “He found his mate here? Since yesterday?”

Derek shifts uncomfortably. Isaac has picked up his fork again and is digging into his eggs and sausage. Stiles just keeps watching them, silent, calculating.

Their silence must answer for them because Scott looks around the tent. The other tables have gone quiet, catching on to the tension between the alphas. “Are they here?” He looks at Derek. “Your mate?”

Staring down at his lap, Derek nods. He can’t bring himself to meet Stiles’ eyes.

Scott just shrugs, Derek can hear the fabric of his shirt shift over his shoulders. “Okay. Well I’m not going to hold you to a marriage agreement if you have a _mate_. That’s special.”

The table seems to relax a bit, the Hales all letting go of the readiness to fight.

Stiles finally speaks for the first time since Laura dropped the metaphorical bomb. “I know it’s not my business, but do you mind sharing who you’re turning me down for?” There’s a sound like Scott kicked him under the table. Stiles swears.

“Cut it out, man.” Scott hisses.

Derek stares at him like a deer caught in the headlights. Stiles? Stiles is the McCall emissary? The one who took out a flock of harpies all by himself just the night before? The one who tore an entire pack of alphas to shreds because they dared to touch one of his pack?

Laura starts laughing. So hard she almost falls out of her seat. Everyone is shooting her concerned looks, but she just takes a couple of deep breaths and wipes the tears out of her eyes. “Only you, Der.”

Stiles is watching him like he’s got half the pieces put together and the rest are starting to fall in place. “Me? You’re turning me down to court me?”

Derek finally manages to stutter, “You said you were human.”

“Emissaries are human.” Stiles looks at Scott accusingly. “You didn’t even tell him my name?”

Scott looks sheepish. “Well yes but not--”

“Oh god.” He turns back to Derek, apology written all over his face. “No wonder you didn’t know who I was last night.”

Derek just sits there, feeling overwhelmed. Laura stands up and ushers their pack out of the tent. Scott follows her lead, squeezing Stiles’ shoulder on his way. The other tables start getting up too. The Sheriff grumbles about not being finished with breakfast, but Melissa pulls him out behind her.

Stiles pushes his plate aside and holds his hand out over the table. “Let’s try this again. I’m Mieczysław Stilinski, emissary to the McCall pack. Everyone I know just calls me Stiles.”

Derek takes the offered hand and smiles tentatively. “It’s nice to meet you, Stiles.”

**Author's Note:**

> (and i just realized that i skipped yesterday. oops. maybe ill post it later)
> 
> Come say hello on [tumblr!](https://theproblemwithstardust.tumblr.com)


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